Soviet Writers Ask Communist Party to Lift Ban on Jewish Books

September 9, 1957

Vienna (Sep. 8)

A memorandum asking for the revival of the publication of Jewish books and the reinstatement of Jewish cultural institutions in the Soviet Union has been submitted to the Central Committee of the Communist Party in Moscow by the Union of Soviet Writers, it was reported here today from Moscow. The memorandum was signed by top Soviet authors, the report said.

The memorandum pointed out that although no Jewish book has been published in the Soviet Union since 1949, nevertheless a large Yiddish literature in manuscript has developed during the last nine years in anticipation that publication of Jewish books would be resumed and in the hope that some of the manuscripts would be translated and published in Russian before they were published in Yiddish.

The memorandum estimated that more than 70 Jewish writers have finished manuscripts which have not been printed because publication of Yiddish books in the Soviet Union has been halted. “The works of Jewish writers must be published in Yiddish, if Jewish literature is to exist, the memorandum stated. It noted that Jewish culture is one of the oldest in the world and must not be “rooted out.”